King’s use of rhetorical tools helps him convince the clergymen to take a second look at how African Americans are being treated. King utilizes emotive language to target his audience’s emotions. For example, he states, “if you would watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro” (3). He then goes on to give more examples, including, “I don’t believe you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its angry and violent dogs literally biting six unarmed, nonviolent Negroes” (3). These help achieve his purpose because they are specific examples that make the clergymen feel guilty. Next, King utilizes questioning to make the clergymen reevaluate what they are doing. He says, “In this sense they have been rather publicly ‘nonviolent.’ But for what purpose? To preserve the evil system of segregation” (4).…
One of the main rhetorical devices that King uses is pathos for whites to understand what happens to the oppressed. For instance, to show the clergymen are wrong for saying his actions are “unwise and untimely,”he uses sombre diction such as “victims, broken, shadow, and deep disappointment” to indicate that his community has already waited and were brought to a dead end. The sentences are used to make the reader feel guilty with pity for their hopes that were shattered. Another example that represents that his protest is wise and show the readers that what has been going on is personal and needs to be stopped is when he states, “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your brothers and sisters at whim;…
King’s Rose to Prominence In the Article by History Net says, August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his phenomenal “I Have a Dream” speech around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. This speech discusses the different forms of rhetorics that are mentioned. Theme, pathos, tone and audience capture the same perspective in which it makes this speech pleasant and positive. With these rhetorics, King accomplished his purpose for this speech.…
Throughout Letter From Birmingham Jail, King uses several metaphors to describe the harmful effects of inequity and motivate his followers to work towards “transforming the] pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.” For example, to promote immediate action, King proclaims that “now is the time to lift national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice.” By placing the abstract consequences of discrimination next to the perceivable discomfort of being stuck in quicksand, King helps his readers understand the severe ramifications of injustice. More importantly, the harmful outcomes that King described motivate his readers to take action in order to soothe the wounds of their neighbors and fellow citizens.…
King said that before anyone takes direct action, the protester first needs to “purify” (567) their soul so that he or she will have no regrets going forward. Taking direct action is the right path but, it needs to be understood that there will be consequences for those actions. Taking a stand has never been easy and can be extremely difficult, but for the future progress of the African American, it was necessary. The protester needed to possess a firm moral conviction that their cause was a righteous and just cause. By combining nonviolent resistance, direct action, and a firm conviction of their cause, King was confident that the oppressors would come to join him in the quest for equality. All other issues would fade away and the only thing left to see would be the true issue, a "good versus evil"…
Based on “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King states “A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law.” This shows that King is saying that anyone has the right to break the laws if those laws are unjust without using violence. King also reveals “My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure.” This demonstrates that King believes that violence isn’t the key to fix problems. King proclaimed that African American must make changes to achieve true…
Martin Luther King uses a plethora of rhetorical devices and strategies throughout his speech about freedom, often tying in certain opinions or emotions to them. Three specific strategies he uses are, his diction, his use of metaphors and devices which cast freedom into a good light, and his use of metaphors and rhetorical devices tying dark things to oppression, thus portraying the current lack of freedoms and liberties in a decidedly bad light.…
King initially draws connections from the current state of African American peoples by referencing allusions to historical documents which assisted in the advances against oppression. In his speech, King begins with a nod to Abraham Lincoln, using “Five score years ago” as his opening statement. He then praises Lincoln, claiming that he was a “symbolic shadow in which we [the people] stand today” and mentions his effort toward the ending of slavery, the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. However, the signing of the document was only a literal end to slavery, but in reality, African Americans were still enslaved by society. King was aware that slavery had been abolished, but obstacles such as Jim Crow laws were almost as detrimental to the Negros as slavery. Although, as he emphasizes, the Declaration of Independence evidently states that “all men are created equal,” African Americans were still being denied their unalienable rights. In theory, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were to be given to all Americans, regardless of color, but for the Negros, liberty was remarkably lacking. By alluding to…
They always say that the pen is mightier than the sword. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s case, however, the phrase would have the be “the adlib is mightier than the sword” in regards to his incredibly famous “I Have A Dream” speech, which contained many metaphors with great imagery. King used imagery and metaphors to powerfully represent his ideas on the discrimination in America during the 1960’s. One example of King’s imagery in metaphors is when he proclaims that they would “be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”…
Martin Luther King Jr. uses a metaphor in his speech when he explains that, “The bank of justice is bankrupt.” He compares a “bank of justice,” to the American government and “bankruptcy” to an insufficient amount of justice in America. Bankruptcy is filed when there is inadequate resources to support an organization. This insufficiency is being compared to injustice for the Black people of America. Furthermore, King Jr. wants to acknowledge that equality and justice can and should be given to the Blacks.…
From a critical viewpoint, King makes a very persuasive argument using logic and emotions to influence the audience that he is in fact right in taking a non-violent action but more so justified from the basic humanity laws. He denies idea that he is supporting some laws while breaking other by making a distinction between just and unjust laws. He talks about the difference between moral and political and just and unjust laws. For example, Parade law that put him in jail is just in letter but unjust when applied to violate constitution. King also justifies breaking laws by citing historical examples of civil disobedience, such as: the Old Testament, Early Christians in Rome, Socrates, Boston Tea Party, Freedom Fighters against Hitler. He then uses emotions to convince his readers that it is the white moderate that are really at fault, conveying the message that he is a victim of circumstance and society. He uses this to lead into the criticism of his extremism. King is really a moderate between two extremes of black action between doing nothing and becoming violent. He cautions that without his movement, the extreme of hating whites will win out and cause more violence. He then shows that he is indeed a pacifistic by recognition and praise of those whites who have helped his cause. King tries to refute the clergyman’s disapproval of the actions that occurred in Birmingham, he tries to redirects praise to the civil rights protestors, and reconstructs a harmonious…
Metaphors are another useful rhetorical method that King uses, metaphors are important to help audiences fully understand an idea as it compares an idea with something the audience is familiar with, which is important to bring out ethos. King uses a series of more difficult metaphors in the middle of his speech. He claims that by “the Constitution and Declaration of Independence,” the men that signed the Constitution were signing a promissory note that all men, whatever skin color, would be guaranteed the same rights and treated equally. Later on, King uses the metaphors “battered by the storms of persecution” and the “winds of police brutality.” (American rhetoric 2) These two metaphors both relate to ethos as the first metaphor begs the ethic…
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was well known for giving many inspiring speeches that had an affect on the American society during the 1960's. I believe his speech in 1967, "Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence" advances the cause of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement because Dr. King is challenging the logic that both black and white Americans fight in war together but they can not sit in the same seat in the same class together in school. As well as challenging the movement of peace by speaking for the weak or the voiceless.…
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave us many examples of how to handle conflict without physically hurting someone. There are ways I handle conflicts without being violent. I will tell you about them.…
With the use of logos appeal, Martin Luther King Jr. logically proves each point he makes objectively and uses indisputable evidence to support his statements. Dr. King went to great lengths to educate his people in the benefit of non-violent aggression. He chose to respond to hard and brutal acts with non-violent resistance. In his letter, he tries to support the fact that they had no alternative except to prepare for direct action. However, Martin Luther King, Jr. has several logical examples of evidence to prove his point. He states, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps…